Construction companies by trade
The register gives every company one main activity code. This table counts the active companies in each construction class, as the classification defines them.
Broken down by construction activity class.
By trade
Each company is counted once, under its main activity class.
- Companies with legal personality
- Sole traders
- Construction of residential and non-residential buildings41.0033,476 · 27.8% sole traders
- Electrical installation43.2128,634 · 42% sole traders
- Joinery installation43.3223,151 · 43.1% sole traders
- Other specialised construction activities n.e.c.43.9917,089 · 43.3% sole traders
- Plumbing, heat and air-conditioning installation43.2216,639 · 34.9% sole traders
- Site preparation43.1214,933 · 56% sole traders
- Other building completion and finishing43.3512,300 · 56.8% sole traders
- Painting and glazing43.349,345 · 52.2% sole traders
- Roofing activities43.418,527 · 36.6% sole traders
- Floor and wall covering43.336,043 · 42.8% sole traders
- Other construction installation43.245,856 · 47.8% sole traders
- Insulation work43.235,499 · 62.6% sole traders
- Masonry and bricklaying43.914,974 · 59.8% sole traders
- Plastering43.314,078 · 45.7% sole traders
- Construction of roads and motorways42.112,691 · 38.9% sole traders
- Construction of utility projects for electricity and telecommunications42.221,918 · 24.8% sole traders
- Demolition43.111,391 · 43.4% sole traders
- Other specialised construction activities in the construction of buildings43.421,353 · 37.9% sole traders
- Construction of utility projects for fluids42.211,030 · 31.4% sole traders
- Test drilling and boring43.13681 · 37.3% sole traders
- Construction of other civil engineering projects n.e.c.42.99622 · 21.4% sole traders
- Construction of water projects42.91428 · 24.3% sole traders
- Intermediation service activities for specialised construction43.60253 · 51.8% sole traders
- Construction of bridges and tunnels42.13208 · 17.3% sole traders
- Construction of railways and underground railways42.12176 · 13.1% sole traders
- Specialised construction activities in civil engineering43.5089 · 48.3% sole traders
Common questions
- Why does a company appear under only one trade?
- Because the figure counts main activities. Many companies work across several trades and declare several codes; counting them in each would produce a total larger than the number of companies that exist.
- What is the code shown beside each trade?
- The NACE code of the activity class — the European classification the Belgian register uses. It is shown because it is the unambiguous identifier, where the name can be worded several ways.
Method and sources
Counted here are the companies whose main activity code falls under NACE divisions 41, 42, 43 — construction — in version 2025 of the classification.
Register read on 13 Aug 2026. The register publishes one full extract per month; these figures change at that pace and no faster.
Any category describing fewer than 10 sole traders is taken out of the breakdown: a count small enough points at one person, and these pages point at nobody. Removed categories are reported under the table they came from.
Province and region are derived from the seat’s postcode: the register publishes a commune and a postcode, not a province. That derivation is ours.
A company appears in one class only: the one its main activity is registered under. An installer who also fits solar panels is counted once, where the register put them — so the classes add up to the total, but they do not describe everything each company can do.
Classes are read at four digits. The register publishes five, the last of which is a national subdivision splitting trades a reader would not tell apart.
Source: Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE), FPS Economy — open data — re-use conditions
These figures describe what the public register said on the day we read it. They are counts, not a ranking: no commune, no trade and no company is presented here as better or worse than another.